


Matcha

by chai_pandemic17



Series: Saltwater [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Art, Boys In Love, Cute, Cute Yamaguchi Tadashi, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Food, Gay, How Do I Tag, Japanese Culture, M/M, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Painting, Time Skips, Tsukishima Kei Being an Asshole, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, and it ends up being just 1k words, and it takes so long, fight me i love writing about food, listen i do so much research for these
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 02:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30048585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chai_pandemic17/pseuds/chai_pandemic17
Summary: The painting is finally begun! Tsukishima grumbles about having to sit patiently without his headphones on, but he finds that there's something fascinating about people-watching. But as soon as he settles in, Yamaguchi complains - and we're sent back in time to find out who Tsukishima keeps messaging...It starts off with a bag of matcha taiyaki, a laptop, and a nearly-forgotten app.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: Saltwater [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189511
Kudos: 9





	Matcha

_(Tsukishima’s POV)_

“Tsukki!”

Tsukishima had been sitting on the wooden chair they’d dragged out, watching passersby during their business in the afternoon. As they’d passed, he would try to guess where they were going. Sometimes he’d watch them for as long as he could to see where they went, but they often disappeared in the crowd.

Sometimes there were families - parents, carrying children on their shoulders or holding their hand. Sometimes it was a young couple, and sometimes an elderly couple. Once or twice he’d even thought he saw Kenma and Kuroo out and about, but he shook the thought away, having only caught a glimpse of something.

A few minutes ago, a dog had bounded up from seemingly nowhere and placed its great paws on Tsukki’s knees, panting and barking. He’d barely gotten a word out - “Hey!?” - when a young boy had toddled up to them, more puffy coat and wool scarf than anything, and, with great struggle, pried the dog away from his lap.

“Sorry, _onii-san!”_ the boy had said, rosy cheeked and sniffling. _“Kurumi-chan_ isn’t usually this energetic! Have a good day!”

Then they were both scampering down the sidewalk before Tsukki could reply, leaving him sitting there, blinking, in the chilly winter air.

_“Tsukki!”_

He looked up, more startled than he’d care to admit. Yamaguchi had forced him to not wear his headphones, in case he wouldn’t be able to hear him, but he was too lost in his own head to hear him the first time either way.

Yamaguchi was sitting on the platform outside the flower shop, pouting. From this angle, the _ahoge_ on the top of his head looked even droopier than usual, and at that, the corner of Tsukki’s mouth quirked up amusedly.

“What?” he asked, monotone.

“Lower me down, please.”

Tsukki sighed and rose to his feet, stretching as Yamaguchi carefully lowered himself to the bottommost platform, his tongue sticking out.

“You know you can just hop down yourself, right?” He carried the wooden chair to the sidewalk under the platform and held it still while Yamaguchi stepped down onto it, and from there to solid ground.

“It’s too high!”

Tsukki sighed again. “Why’d you want down, anyways?” He glanced up at what the other had gotten done so far through the plastic sheets. Of course, it was very little, it only being three o’clock: the second coat of white paint that served as the background was drying, bordered by blue painter’s tape. There were a few gaps in the tape, however, where the white extended out from the rectangle in petal-like shapes.

He looked back down to find Yamaguchi looking sheepishly down at his feet. “I was hungry,” he mumbled.

Tsukishima pushed up his glasses and only just barely resisted the urge to sigh yet again, and pulled out a paper bag from his pocket. The paper was plain, except for the title of the street food shop they’d gone to, printed in red letters, and the words “matcha _taiyaki”_ scrawled in pen underneath it.

“Here. But it’s only been an hour since you’ve eaten, so don’t complain about not being hungry enough for dinner, later.”

Yamaguchi grinned at him, looking almost like a pine tree with his green hair sticking up in a point, and his smile being so bright. “Thanks, Tsukki!”

This time he didn’t resist sighing, and unrolled the bag. He handed one greenish, crispy, fish-shaped pastry to him, and took the other for himself before stuffing the empty bag into his jacket pocket.

Tsukki took a bite from the fish’s head and peered up at the sky, mulling over the grassy sweetness of the powdered tea. It was cloudy - but it still looked like solid color, though more grey than white, now, at this time of day. The chill was also beginning to come back, and Yamaguchi visibly shivered.

“Are you done painting today?”

Yamaguchi hummed around his own bite. “Probably. I think two coats of white should be enough,” he started, turning to squint up at the brick wall, past the plastic. He looked back at Tsukki. “Why? Have somewhere you need to go?”

“Yeah. But it doesn’t close until midnight, so it doesn’t matter when we go,” he replied after swallowing another bite. The pastry wasn’t warm anymore, since it had been in the cold for an hour, but it was good nonetheless.

“Can I ask where?”

Tsukki looked at him sideways. His eyebrows were raised, and he could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out where in the world Tsukki could possibly be needing to go this late in the day. His freckles stood out in the cold, and he suddenly remembered tracing the freckles on Yamaguchi’s back with a marker to form constellations.

He looked away. “You’ll see.”

Yamaguchi was the one to sigh this time around as he popped the fish’s tail into his mouth. Then he closed his eyes, forgetting the conversation almost immediately as he enjoyed the flavor.

~•°•°--------------------°•°•~

_(Note: “Onii-” means “older brother”, and the honorific “-san” is added onto most names as a term of respect in some situations. “-sama” is the heightened respectful version of this, commonly used in writing._

_The honorific “-chan”, on the other hand, is added onto some names as a term of endearment, as replacing the “s” sound with “ch” is seen as cute. It is usually used to refer to young girls, young children, or animals, between extremely close friends, or by disrespectful older men to refer to a waitress._

_Also, the name “Kurumi” means “walnut”.)_

~•°•°--------------------°•°•~

_(Yamaguchi’s POV)_

_Earlier_

“Oh, you boys are back!” Hana had exclaimed, looking up from the laptop that had appeared on the otherwise plain countertop, balanced on top of the now-familiar pink binder. “Have a nice meal?”

“Yes, thank you,” Yamaguchi had said, smiling. “I saw the scaffold outside - thank you very much for setting everything up for me!”

She’d laughed, shutting the laptop and rising to her feet. The brown cloak had swished as she moved, reminding him of a flowing dress. A spark had lit up in Yamaguchi’s eyes - a flicker of inspiration for a sketch, later, or perhaps even a full painting.

He’d quickly patted his pockets, searching for his notebook, and had found it in his jeans, pulling it out along with a pen. When he’d finished writing, he’d tucked it away and grinned sheepishly at Hana’s amused expression. “Sorry - I just didn’t want to forget something.”

Tsukki, who had been leaning against the wall silently, had cleared his throat, then, and the thickness in the room dissipated. Hana had glanced at him almost warily before turning back to Yamaguchi and clapping her hands together.

“Well, alright! If you’re ready to get to painting, I’ve taken a photo of your sketch and messaged it to you, so you don’t need to bring it out there.”

“Thank you very much, Hana!”

~•°•°--------------------°•°•~

_(Tsukishima’s POV)_

_Even Earlier_

Tsukishima’s phone had buzzed while he was mindlessly scrolling through Netflix on the TV for something to watch once they’d gotten home that night. He’d furrowed his brow and clicked it on, readjusting his glasses to peer at the notification. It had read “One new message! From: Doi Akio”.

He’d tapped it and was sent to an app he’d nearly forgotten about, since it’d been so long since he’d used it. The message had read: “Hello! I’m Doi - I run the Tattoo Parlour (creative name, I know) in the nearby shopping district. I know you haven’t been active on this app in a while, but I saw your sketches and paintings and was wondering if you’d be willing to accept a commission from me? I’ll pay well, especially for a job like this! Message me back if you’d like to know the details.”

Tsukki had turned off his phone, and the TV, and sat there in silence for a while, just listening to the shower running in the other room. Then, just as the water shut off, he’d come to a decision; but he’d have to wait until later to act on it, since Yamaguchi would be ready any minute.

~•°•°--------------------°•°•~

Throughout the day, Tsukishima sorted out the details with Doi. It turned out that the guy was friends with Hana, and had heard she was getting a commission for a painting to promote her flower shop. The idea had stuck in his head until finally he decided to search online.

Doi had checked out the account of the kid, Yamaguchi, Hana had said she was talking to, but was unsure whether or not he should put so much work on him. Then he’d seen that Tsukishima’s account was linked in the bio, and the rest was history.

~•°•°--------------------°•°•~

_(Note: The name “Doi” is used as both a given name and a surname, meaning “earth well” or “earth habitation”, depending on the region._

_Also, the given name “Akio” means “bright man, manly, hero”.)_


End file.
